No plan to consolidate four local school boards, says chair

The Algoma District School Board has no intention of asking the province to consider consolidation of the four Sault and area school boards.

“We are not interested in putting a motion forward to inspire the government to make a change, it’s a political hot-button issue and I don’t think any of our politicians are really that interested in taking that on, it divides people,” said Jennifer Sarlo, Algoma District School Board (ADSB) chair, speaking to SooToday.

Sudbury’s Rainbow District School Board passed a motion at its meeting Tuesday, which calls on the premier, the minister of education, the Ontario Public School Boards' Association (OPSBA) and Sudbury-area MPPs to consider funding one Sudbury-area school board instead of four.

The motion calls for the Sudbury area’s school boards to maintain their own distinct programming while sharing facilities with each other, especially within smaller communities which face school closures.

The Green Party of Ontario, during the 2014 provincial election campaign, stated the merging of four school boards across the province into one could save Ontario $1 billion annually.

The call for such a move is nothing new, Sarlo told SooToday Wednesday.

“It comes up frequently among trustees (across the province), but not at our board table.”

“The OPSBA is not lobbying for one school board, as it is more interested in moving forward with student achievement and well- being rather than dealing with this political issue.”

However, the ADSB would be interested in talks with other Sault and area school boards when it comes to sharing some facilities, Sarlo said.

“Locally we are interested in having conversations with other boards around sharing facilities and finding cost savings in some of our smaller communities.”     

“In my opinion, I think we could find efficiencies by working together and I think we at the Algoma board are open to that and we do see some value in that.”

“(But) there isn’t a movement on our board to bring any motions to the table to ask the province to support one school board,” Sarlo said.

The ADSB, at one time, did share facilities with other boards in Wawa and other smaller communities before there was a push by French language school boards to have more of their own schools, Sarlo said.

“We see value in sharing facilities to try and save money…but people are protective of their own turf and their own funding, we’re all making an effort to get students through our doors and we are all trying to protect our identity.”

“Everyone wants numbers and they don’t want to lose students to another board,” Sarlo said.  

The Sault and area currently serves as the academic home to JK-12 students in four school boards; the Algoma District School Board (ADSB), the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (H-SCDSB), the Conseil scolaire de district du Grand Nord de l'Ontario and the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario.

Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.